Jean Gillie

Jean Gillie, a radiant, redheaded British actress, gave a delightfully wicked performance as Margot Shelby in Decoy (1946) and made that movie a minor noir classic.

Virginia Mayo

Virginia Mayo was so much more than just a blonde bombshell; in fact she wasn’t even that in real life. She was a welcome presence in any film, a great singer, dancer and comedienne, and especially fun in the crime films she made, because she was so good at being bad.

Must See: The Unsuspected

From each writer of source novels adapted to film, you get a signature and recognizable style, even when their material is reshaped by Hollywood. From W.B. Burnett (Little Caesar, High Sierra, Asphalt Jungle) you get rugged and realistic hardened criminals, gritty underworld settings and machine gun dialogue. From Raymond Chandler you find the creeps often live in the most opulent mansions. From Charlotte Armstrong, whom some called Queen of suspensers, you get unseen horrors hidden beneath a highly dusted and waxed veneer of domestic life, a juicy hot evil center baked right into the familiar conventions of a regular women’s novel of the time, something writer Ariel Swartley nicely describes as being trapped in a Doris Day movie gone bad.

Felix Bressart

This post is part of the “What a Character” blogathon hosted by Kellee at Outspoken & Freckled, Aurora at Once Upon a Screen and Paula at Paula’s Cinema Club; go check out the many other great character actors spotlighted this weekend. A post on Felix Bressart also fits nicely into my own “you look familiar” series, spotlighting faces you often see but might not know much about.

Felix Bressart was easily one of the most endearing character actors that ever worked in the movies; though he was in Hollywood only for a short time—ten years—he made so many interesting films that the more you see him in the harder it gets to choose your favorite role of his.

Fallen Angel

This post is part of the Dana Andrews blogathon sponsored by the Classic Movie Man blog, and you should click here to see all the other great posts on Andrews!   you can also click the nice pic of Dana in the sidebar to get there.

Remembering Glenn Ford

the actor was born on May 1st …

you look familiar: Phillip Reed

Introducing a new series of  brief articles to shine the spotlight on some faces you are certain to have seen often, but might not know much about. First up, Phillip Reed.

faith domergue

Faith Domergue was the subject of a huge buildup by Howard Hughes’ publicity machine, heavily promoted as a “smoldering siren”, and an exotic bombshell, but for all the hoopla she never quite achieved superstardom. She was disillusioned by her first major experience, rebelled against the image that all the expensive hype was meant to create, and walked away from Hollywood and fame a number of times.

Phantom Lady/ Ella Raines

This is one of the first noir movies (along with Black Angel) that I spent my very own hard earned money on when I started building my little classic movie collection.  They were released on VHS in the mid-to-late 90s, under the Universal noir collection series. The packaging was so inviting and irresistible that they seemed less like relics from the past and much more promising entertainment than whatever new release had come out that week

Ward Bond

Bond made a ton of great movies, but this character actor was also a star athlete, well educated, unabashedly patriotic, and a political activist whose close friendship with John Ford and John Wayne was a mainstay in his life and career.

Classic Hollywood had many prolific and talented character actors, but there’s just one that had more appearances in Oscar nominated movies and appeared in more AFI “best of” picks than any other actor, one who seemed to pop up in almost every movie made in Hollywood during the first decade of his career, and that man was Ward Bond. Even with his booming voice and hulking presence, Bond naturally and subtly conveyed emotion and meaning, and brought life to the smallest of roles. While on screen he was often John Wayne’s sidekick, in real life he played a leading role as an outspoken Hollywood conservative, a culture warrior, a fearless, determined and persistent anti-Communist activist. He helped establish and eventually headed a Hollywood organization dedicated to countering progressive messages and influence, and to promoting positive portrayals of traditional American values in film.